One Year of Maggie

I have to confess, I’m writing this the night before posting. I suddenly had an urge to write a little something to mark Maggie’s first year in the world,but that thought came to me pretty late in the day. I could say so much but I won’t because I really should go to bed and you’d probably appreciate a less essay-like life post! It’s been an amazing year and on the one hand it feels like it’s flown by and on the other I’ve been wondering how she isn’t already one for the last few months because it feels like she’s so much a part of our life, like she’s always been there.

I’m so glad people told me to savour each stage because they go from newborn to chubby baby to toddler so quickly. In many ways she’s been a very straight forward baby with an even temperament throughout but it’s been so fun to see her little character unravel. The first 8 months of Maggie would never have lead me to believe she’d have the kind of personality we now see glimpses of. I thought she’d be reserved, quite serious and cautious with people, maybe even a little shy. I thought she’d be fiercely independent, tough as nails and not overly affectionate or tactile. The small human I now see has a very cheeky sense of humour, smiles and waves at everyone, is possibly the most affectionate little girl I’ve met in a long while (we can barely get through a throw of a ball or mouthful of food without a kiss and a cuddle) and she is so chatty, definitely not a shrinking violet. She’s definitely a sensitive soul rather than that tough nut I was imagining. To be honest she’s very different to younger-me all round, accept that she loves sleep and always has (bar the 10 month sleep regression, let’s not speak of that).

It has been such a privilege to watch her grow, to see our creator and sustainer God at work in this crazy miracle of life. Motherhood has come with it’s challenges from breast feeding to teething to sleep training to trying desperately to juggle her with running a business but when I think of motherhood as a whole, I just think how I love it more than I ever thought I would and weirdly it does feel really natural. People always said that’s the case when you become a Mum but I never really believed them.

I have so many special moments locked in my head from lying next to her that first night at home, so close I could hear her breathing teeny, tiny breaths to feeding me ‘her’ dinner whilst she giggles with her toothy grin (one for her, one for me). She makes us laugh every day, not to mention the time we then waste scrolling through old videos and photos of her when she’s asleep. All the poonami’s have been worth it because Magda Lisbeth you are a delight! I’m so thankful that you’re my daughter. All this crawling means you’ve lost your signature chub but you are still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Now slow down a little and hopefully this year we can catch our breath.